TREES FOR ALL

For over a decade, the people of Tamil Nadu have been working on a very unique revolution – a green revolution to reverse the degradation of the environment and restore ecological balance. Project GreenHands has established nurseries in 32 locations across Tamil Nadu where quality saplings are grown through organic methods and distributed to those who are committed to plant and nurture them into trees.

How We Do It

How We Do It

The Problem

In the early 2000s, an agency of the U.N conducted a survey in the state of Tamil Nadu and predicted that 60% of the state would turn into a desert by 2025. Sadhguru decided to check up on this prediction and travelled around Tamil Nadu. He saw that the state was headed towards desertification much more rapidly than the U.N prediction. The green cover of Tamil Nadu was only 17% against the nation's aspiration of 33%. Small rivers had dried up completely. He saw that there was not enough moisture in the soil and even palm trees were drying up. Unless the people of Tamil Nadu became involved in environmental restoration, the future looked bleak.

Our Solution

Realizing the profound ecological problems occurring in the state of Tamil Nadu, Sadhguru launched Project GreenHands (PGH) in 2004. The first project was the rehabilitation of the tsunami-affected coastal area, where PGH planted 25,000 trees with community participation.

Through the “Trees for All” initiative, saplings are handed out as part of education programs aimed at teaching people about the multiple benefits that trees offer. PGH has 35 nurseries established across the state through which 4 million saplings are produced every year on average. 84 different tree species (a combination of fruit, fodder, timber, flowering and avenue trees) native to Tamil Nadu are raised in these nurseries. Schoolchildren, college students, corporate employees, Isha volunteers, and nature enthusiasts all take part in production activities such as sowing seeds, transplanting saplings, filling packets with soil, watering, and weeding. Through education and mass people participation, PGH has broken social divides and successfully involved people of all ages and from all walks of life.

Story of Karthigai

Story of Karthigai

Thenur is just a regular village in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. For residents, their most revered milestone is Mahatma Gandhi’s brief touchdown in their village en route to Madurai in the summer of 1921.